Flipside
by HawkfrostsAvenger
Summary: It'd been years since Alice had last seen Wonderland, and nearly just as long that she'd lived in America. So naturally the last thing she was expecting was for Ace to show up in her bed out of the blue. AcexAlice, real-world modern America
1. Chapter 1

Of all the things that happened to me that I never would have expected, I think this topped the list.  
"Good morning, Alice," Ace greeted with a soft kiss on my forehead, grinning stupidly. "You're a heavy sleeper, you know. You didn't even notice me here!"  
On a regular day I would have just scolded him like I usually did, and more than likely I would have turned him in to Vivaldi for a lecture, too. Except this wasn't a regular day, or at least not one in Wonderland. After all, I'd returned home years ago!  
'I'm dreaming,' I thought simply. 'This is just a dream. I haven't been there in a long time, there's no way it's going to come back and haunt me now.' At least, no more than the memory did already. But there was no conceivable way that the knight was really there, at my real house that I'd really bought when I returned to the real world. Of course I thoroughly had believed my time in the wonder-world through the rabbit hole had actually happened, but by now it was no more than a vivid dream.  
"Ace?" I finally responded, realizing I'd done nothing but stare at him for several moments.  
"Haha~, yep! And they said you wouldn't remember me!" He was definitely being too loud for so early in the morning.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"I came to live with you." He spoke so matter-of-factly that even I could have believed he'd discussed this with me already. "You always said in your world that people weren't bound to a role, so-"  
"None of my neighbors saw you come in, did they?" I hadn't been a morning person since I returned back home and no longer had to worry about (or so I'd thought) waking up to find a different man who'd snuck into my bed every day, so my priorities were a bit odd. "I've got a reputation, you know!"  
He laughed again, pulling himself over me and pinning me down with his familiar gloved hands. The short-haired man still looked exactly the same, save for a new scar on his cheek, and evidently acted the same as well. His face got serious. "I came all the way here to find you and you're focused on who else saw me? Are you embarrassed?"  
"Yes! Do you know what that would look like?" I pointed at the window. "The man that lives across the street is my boss, and he barely likes me as it is. The last thing I need is some pervert breaking into my house and making it look like I'm sneaking men around at night!"  
'Calm down, Alice. You've got to be dreaming.'  
"If you don't like him I'll just go over and kill him-."  
"Absolutely not!" I snapped, Ace seeming totally unaffected by my aggressive attitude. I suppose I hadn't changed much since I'd seen him last, either. "You can't just kill people in this world!"  
I surpressed my excitement when he sighed and appeared to have agreed, knowing full well the bipolar knight was liable to try something fishy anyway. In fact, telling him no probably only tempted him more, but if he ended up in prison I know for a fact he would find a way to blame me. I certainly wouldn't appreciate that sort of notice from my father, either, so soon after moving away to America and telling him I could handle myself.  
Knowing full well by the foreigner's touch I couldn't possibly still be dreaming, I accepted the insane reality with great reluctance that I would have to take care of him. As much as I wished I could have thrown him out and said I wanted nothing to do with him, he would still end up my responsiblilty one way or another.  
"Ace, just give me a minute to get dressed," I told him after pondering the situation more thoroughy (and coming to the conclusion that if worse came to worst I could always have him institutionalized). "Go wait downstairs."  
"Alice, I've seen you undress before," he complained. How could I not have seen that coming? He then raised an eyebrow, his face coming close enough for me to feel his breathing. "Unless you found another man? I never thought you were the cheating type."  
I pushed him away and patted my night gown indignantly. "What if I did?" I asked hypothetically. "How would it even be cheating?"  
"You never formally broke up with me. So if you found another guy, you should break my heart right now." He complimented this statement with a creepily happy grin.  
"I can't win with you, can I?" I was completely exhasperated by the Wonderlandian sense of logic that somehow always seemed to make sense. I really hadn't broken up with him before leaving- but we hadn't dated that long anyway! And I definitely didn't have feelings for him anymore. It wasn't possible. There was no way I could still feel anything for a guy like him, especially when I was back in the real world where I could associate with normal, pleasant people. "Just get out!"  
After a bit more 'convincing' he finally gave in, but I waited until I heard his footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs before frantically putting on some decent clothing. I dared a glance at the clock- 5:00 a.m.- before collecting my courage and following him down to the kitchen. I had plenty of questions to ask: how was everyone else doing? where there any new Outsiders? how did he come back? how did he find me?  
And perhaps most importantly, though I didn't think of this one until I got a good look around the room downstairs, whose blood was on that sword?

AN/This story was an idea I had a while ago, actually, though I took a different turn than I originally had intended. Before I actually had Ace go back WITH Alice, but I thought it would be better if he turned up several years later in a different country entirely :3. I had to move her to America, though, because... well, that's where I live and I imagine it will be much better this way XD


	2. Chapter 2

"Ace, what did you do?" I demanded, naturally horrified by the sight of his weapon being cleaned in my kitchen sink. I don't know what was worse, the idea that the blood had to come from somewhere or the fact that he was rinsing it off over my dishes.

"Haha~, don't worry, it was just a dog!"

That was it. "You- what is WRONG with you?" I was relatively sure that if anyone on the block was awake they would have heard me. "You're disgusting!" How was I supposed to explain that to someone? 'Sorry my boyfriend killed your pet, he's a bit _delusional.'_

"Well, it was in my way. What are you so angry about?"

"Just..." I hit my face. "And go do that somewhere else!" I pointed vaguely at the hallway, hoping he would get the message that my kitchen was not the proper place for him to clean the blood from his blade. Not that anywhere in my house was, but I would have at the very least preferred him to use the shower or something.

"It's all gone now, anyway," he said, sounding relatively proud of himself.

I couldn't help but think of all people, Ace was by far the worst to have back in my world.

"All right... Just put it away, and never do _anything_ like this again." Not that he would listen to me.

"I'll try, if it means that much to you."

Everything that man said sounded like he was flirting, which was probably true, and it was beginning to grate on my nerves almost as much as his spontaneous arrival. "Better than nothing, I guess... Did any new Outsiders come to Wonderland?"

"Nope."

"And, more importantly, how exactly did you get here?"

"Hahaha~, I forgot."

I narrowed my eyes. "Seriously? Though I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more from you..."

"What's that supposed to mean, Alice?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." I went into the fridge and pulled out a few eggs and some butter. "Want some breakfast?" I offered, not bothering to get an answer before I took out a frying pan and turned on the stove.

"Sure. I hope you haven't gotten worse at cooking; you used to be really good."

I know it was supposed to be a compliment, but I can't be the only one that thought it was a bit offensive. _'It's Ace,'_ I reminded myself, deciding not to take the negativity to heart. _'He means well enough._' I think that mindset was what allowed me to stay with him so happily for as long as I did, but sooner or later I would have to tell him I wasn't interested anymore.

Someone with a clock for a heart isn't capable of changing. I may have had some effect on him, but without another Outsider he would always be the same person. Could I really deal with him being so... immature for the rest of his life?  
"Oh, what am I thinking?" I asked aloud, ignoring him when he asked me what I'd said. I fried the eggs and a few strips of bacon, throwing them on two plates and giving him one.

"Thanks." I got out some forks and passed on to him, sitting across from the knight at the table. It was too early to eat; I usually got up at seven to get ready for work half-an-hour later. Still, if ever there was a time to change my schedule, it would be when who I thought was my fictional ex-boyfriend showed up again.

Breakfast was probably the easiest of challenges to overcome, once he got the urge to make perverse comments out of the way, at least. Cleaning up was less enjoyable, but the desire to vomit passed almost as quickly as the smell of blood.

I had two options at that point: I could humor him, and ask him about all that I'd missed; or, I could send him on his merry way to go wreak havoc upon the unfortunate people of my community.

Well, I _thought_ I had some sort of choice as to what to do next. But the pounding on my front door suggested otherwise.

/AN: Sorry for the long time between updates, I thought I already finished this chapter…. ^^' Also, I know the formatting looks kind of bad on the first one (spacing issues), that was just an uploading issue, so I'll fix it eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

Those 'options' I mentioned before? I had to wash them down the drain along with the remnants of what was apparently my _boss's_ dog when my breakfast decided to revisit me.

Naturally, the man at the door had been my employer, who I'm sure I've mentioned wasn't a fan of me to begin with, because nothing could go over easily with Ace around. Of all of the small, yappy mutts in the neighborhood, he'd chosen to decimate the only one that would cost me my job.

After ignoring the frantic knocking for as long as I could (barely long enough for me to make sure nothing else was going to come back up), I finally slunk toward the door and reluctantly undid the chain. "Y-yes?" I asked nervously, staring past the beyond-furious figure that appeared ready to knock me out, at the even more disturbing scene that my guest had made of the yard.

"Where are they?" my boss demanded, violently pounding the door frame with his fist.

"Where are who?" Not that the innocent act would work, especially since there was a definite trail of gore leading all the way from across the street.

"The psychopath that did _this!_" He again directed my attention at the bloody mess, which I realized my porch had gotten a nice taste of, too. How one dog could fit so much in it, I wasn't sure, but my stomach didn't appreciate the view much and threatened to empty itself entirely. "I know they had to have come in here!"

"J-just a minute," I told him, my tone a hybrid of apology and disgust, stepping back and immediately running into the kitchen. "ACE! WHERE DID YOU GO!?" I'm sure the whole block heard that one, but the knight decided it would be best to ignore me. "Get out here, now!" Wherever he'd gone, he couldn't have left the house, but I hated the fact that he disappeared just to screw with me.

And there was no doubt in my mind he had any other reason than that, unless he was trying to be a good boy and refrain from killing the dog's just-as-annoying owner.

As you can probably imagine, by the time I found Ace—who had been rummaging in a certain drawer in my room, to make matters even worse—my brief window of opportunity to actually keep my job was completely gone. Also, if I didn't agree to compensate the man for his pain and suffering, he was going to take the culprit (who I had reluctantly dragged downstairs with me) to court.

I wouldn't have minded that much, really. My patience with the Wonderlandian was entirely worn, to say the least, but on the bright side, without work obligations at least I would have plenty of time to figure out what to do with him.

That's one way to look at it, isn't it? If you're absolutely insane, which, I arguably was.

"Alice, I'm sorry," Ace pouted, my belief in his sincerity having already waned entirely by the eighth apology. "You know, if you come back to Wonderland with me, you won't have to worry about having a job-."

"NOT going to happen."

"Why not~?"

I threw my chair back from the table, standing up dramatically. "I'm going back to bed. If you so much as move from that chair, I swear I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You."

AN/ A short one, also very soon after the last update. But I wanted to get the 'introduction' arc out of the way.


	4. Chapter 4

The idea of Ace behaving himself was merely naïve wishful thinking. So, naturally, I had taken the necessary preparations before going back to sleep for when he inevitably crawled back into bed with me. I half expected him to throw his arm over me, which would have greatly interfered with my plan, but the annoying brunette fortunately stayed in place. As much as I knew I would regret it, I slowly got up and lifted the bucket I had carefully brought in from the bathroom.

Quite calmly, I threw its contents on the sleeping knight, the what-had-once-been cold water making him wake with a stir.

Usually, he was the one causing the unpleasant surprises in our relationship, so it felt nice to get a bit of revenge. Not that waking him up with some room-temperature water at a reasonable time (it was 8 o'clock by that point) really made up for his crime against humanity. A crime which could, probably most accurately, be described as simply his existence.

Still, it was mildly satisfying watching his confused and slightly shocked face as he sat up, dripping wet. "Alice, why did you do that?"

"Why do you think? Remember when I told you to stay _downstairs_?"

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, ignoring the question. He got up and, quite casually, began to take off his clothes. "Well, if I stay soaked like this I might catch a cold," he responded when prompted by my annoyed squeal.

"So don't just start stripping!"

"Why not? Haha, does this still make you embarrassed? You've seen me naked before, so-."

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM, YOU PERVERT!"

He barely listened, removing his shirt before opening the door. "Where should I put my clothes? They're pretty soaked now, so I need something else to wear~. Unless-."

"Don't even," I interjected, knowing exactly what he was going to suggest. Of course, finding him another pair of pants at least would be a problem, seeing as he really couldn't just throw on a pair of mine. I realized exactly how much I regretted drenching him at that point. He waited patiently for me to stop pinching the bridge of my nose before laughing again, this time seeming to try very deliberately in making my head hurt worse, until I finally thought of an idea. "Look, I'm going to go get you a few new outfits to wear while you're here, so just… clean up this mess for me, okay?"

He agreed to that at least. If there was one redeeming quality to him, it was that he did sometimes actually act chivalrous, between being an idiot. I showed him how to work the dryer in the laundry room—with little hope that it would actually survive its time alone with him—before getting more appropriately dressed for leaving the house and grabbing my purse.

Certainly, my home was doomed, but it was bound to be destroyed anyway, so might as well get it out of the way early on.

/AN. I said I would post a chapter, tonight, so I actually sat down to write this one x3 Sorry for the short chapters on this story, but it's easier to do lower word count and more updates when I have a difficult time writing as the narrator.

I'd like to thank my reviewers so far, and also to point out that I've changed my profile poll! I'd really like to see what my readers want more of from me, so I'd love it if you could maybe drop me a PM or vote on that! Or both, I love getting messages x3


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